1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to performing page layout for web content, and specifically relates to converting web content for display on a client device using templates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Despite the (proliferation of lightweight, portable computing devices, including tablet PCs, even the owners of these devices continue to consume media from old-fashioned newspapers and magazines. In some cases, paper-based newspapers and magazines have been preferred because of the aesthetically pleasing layout of the content. One of the problems with web content is that because there is no concept of a standardized size or length for web pages, they frequently extend beyond the visible display area. As a result, a user must repeatedly scroll down or across a web page in order to read it. This presentation experience is particularly frustrating to users of devices with small screens, since they must spend considerable time scrolling back and forth or up and down to view the web page. This experience is entirely in contrast to paper-based newspapers and magazines that do not require, for example, horizontal scrolling to view blocks of text, or vertical scrolling to view embedded images—instead the user simply turns the page to continue experiencing the content.
The poor quality of the layout of web content on portable computing devices stems in part from the challenges associated with translating web content designed to be viewed on one display device to one or more different display devices. Each display device may have different dimensions and resolution. An article from a publisher may contain, for example, a title, subtitle, by-line, dateline, text, pull-quotes, images, and captions, which are collectively referred to as the assets of the article. To accommodate the variety of assets of an article, a sophisticated layout may be required. However, such a sophisticated layout may not translate well between display devices having different dimensions and resolution. Such a sophisticated layout has previously also been time consuming to create, since the articles had typically needed to be laid out manually by the publisher.